Aside from being a delightful symbol atop Spanish words such as manana, does the tilde (~) have any function?

Question

in the English language? I see it used arbitrarily on the 'net, in signatures and the like (~ swEetie), but is there something I'm missing out on?

Answer 1

The tilde (~) is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning a title or superscription, and is pronounced ['tɪl.də], in English, or ['til.de], in Spanish. (In Spanish, however, "tilde" refers to an accent mark, as in "á" — the "~" is considered simply part of the letter ñ, like the dot in the letter i.) It was originally written over a letter as a mark of abbreviation (see below), but has since acquired a number of other uses as a diacritic mark or a character in its own right. In the latter capacity (especially in lexicography) it is also sometimes known as the swung dash (usually lengthened to ⁓).

Answer 2

It has no particular function in the English language except, possibly, when quoting Spanish words which are sometimes used in Spanish, the most obvious ones being "señor" and "señora, and the word "mañana" also has it.

In the Spanish language it has a vital function in indicating the pronunciation of words; where the distinction is between words such as "año" - year, and "ano" - anus - its function is even more important...

Answer 3

It is order to get the letter "ñ".

As you could probably guess, the ñ came originally from the letter n. The ñ does not exist in Latin and is the only Spanish letter of Spanish origins. (12th century)

Its origins can be seen in a word such as año (which means "year"), as it comes from the Latin word annus with a double n. As the phonetic nature of Spanish became solidified, the ñ came to be used for its sound, not just for words with an nn. A number of Spanish words, such as señal and campaña, that are English cognates use the ñ where English uses "gn," such as in "signal" and "campaign," respectively.

Answer 4

It is also used in Portuguese vowels, to produce a very different sound, in words such as não, então etc.
http://www.learningportuguese.co.uk/pronunciation/diphthongs.html

Answer 5

when it has the "~" symbol over the "n" in Manana you pronounce it "enie", and if it doesn't its just "n"